Sponsorship

A group of 37 formerly sponsored children — now young adults — have formed an alumni association in The Gambia. They hope to increase awareness of ChildFund’s sponsorship program at a community level, as well as ChildFund-supported projects that improve education, early childhood development, health care and other needs.

The ChildFund The Gambia alumni association.

“To ChildFund The Gambia, I have to say that you have indeed restored and nurtured the hopes and aspirations of over 20,000 people in this country through your sponsorship program, which all of us here today benefited from,” said Alieu Jawo, who was elected chairperson of the alumni group. “This is indeed a divine investment.”

Alieu, who is now 35, runs a graphic design and printing company, owns a general merchandise brokerage and serves as a shareholder and director of an insurance firm.

Alieu is now chairperson-elect of the alumni group.

“My inclusion into the sponsorship program brought hope and joy to me and my entire family,” Alieu said, “as it was a serious nightmare for an ordinary farmer like my dad and any other average farmer to be able to send his or her kid to high school. There were no good ones around my village or region.”

But with the help of his ChildFund sponsor, who paid his school fees above and beyond the monthly sponsorship, Alieu was able to excel at primary school and continue his education. Other alumni echoed Alieu’s story.

“I was privileged because it gave me the opportunity to continue my education,” said 30-year-old Fatou Bojang, who received shoes and medical supplies too. “That meant less worry and burden on my parents.”

ChildFund The Gambia hosted the forum to formally launch the alumni association in Bwiam. Participants received a briefing on ChildFund’s organizational structure, a refresher on its mission and overviews of ChildFund’s five-year strategic plan and The Gambia’s strategic plan.

Equipped with a better understanding of ChildFund’s operations in The Gambia, the group drafted a constitution and nominated candidates for an executive board. Then the members cast votes.

Fatou, a former sponsored child, is now a mother, senior researcher and a part-time college lecturer.

Staff from ChildFund’s national office challenged the participants to continue to make time for the alumni association, to work in their communities and to assist ChildFund as partners to promote child development and protection. The alumni, who well recall what sponsorship means to them, expressed optimism for the future.

“My enrollment in ChildFund sponsorship program really did contribute to what I am today,” noted Demba Sowe, 37. “I am now a father of five and an interpreter at the judiciary of The Gambia.”

Fredrick’s family grew their own food in eastern Uganda, like many other families in their village. They used the food for their meals and sold the extra vegetables. It was enough to help the family get by, but the income was too low to send Fredrick and his six siblings to school.

Fredrick has bought farm animals with the help of his sponsor, which has increased his family’s income.

Fortunately, Fredrick, who is now 21, gained a sponsor through ChildFund in 2000. He was able to go to school then; and, today, he’s on his way to becoming a mechanical engineer. For most youths, sponsorship ends in their teens, but some sponsors continue to assist when a young adult pursues higher education.

As a child, Fredrick went to Magombe Primary School.

“When I first went to school,” he says, “I felt hopeless because I didn’t see a bright future in education. My parents were poor. I didn’t think I’d reach this level of education.”

But Fredrick worked hard and completed school with top grades. By this point, he knew that he wanted to be an engineer. So he remained optimistic and focused.

Fredrick plans to become an engineer, a goal that is within sight because of income from his livestock.

The assurance he got from his sponsor, Kathryn, through letters and gifts gave him confidence and the hope that he could achieve his goal. When Fredrick finally sat for his A-level exams in 2012, he scored an outstanding 15 points in physics, chemistry, mathematics and economics. With such a stellar performance, Fredrick feels his dream has drawn even closer.

He’s also working to earn his own income. Fredrick received one heifer through a ChildFund project and used monetary gifts from his sponsor to purchase a second heifer. Over time, these animals have multiplied to seven, and with proceeds from the sale of milk and calves, he has bought seven goats. The milk from all these animals has been of great help to the family, as they sell it and also use some of it at home.

“This helped me realize I could reach my dream with even the little I have,” Fredrick says. He plans to start his engineering training in January 2014.

The family has also managed to build a semi-permanent house, which is a major step forward from the mud-and-grass-thatched house they lived in before.

“I thank ChildFund and my sponsor Kathryn for supporting me. I can now be an engineer,” Fredrick says.

This is the final in a series of blog posts with suggestions for writing to the child you’re sponsoring through ChildFund.

Older children offer us a rare opportunity to learn not only about another culture, but also of the difficulties these youth face as excluded or vulnerable members of society. Teenagers are developing critical thinking skills and opinions of their own. Your encouragement of their hopes and dreams is particularly valuable at this stage of their lives.

A Sri Lankan teen assists a younger girl with a letter to her sponsor.

If you have teenage children or grandchildren of your own, consider asking them to correspond with your sponsored child. Youth share similar problems and concerns regardless of their backgrounds and can easily forge common bonds across cultures. And what better way to demonstrate the importance of giving back?

Sample letter:

Dear Nigist,

We are very excited to meet you! We are twins named Sarah and Courtney, and we live in Boston, Massachusetts. We are sophomores in high school, and this year we have an exchange teacher from Ethiopia for art class. His name is Tesfa. He has been telling us all about his life in Addis Ababa and showing us the pictures he painted of your country. It is so beautiful! We convinced our father to sponsor a girl in Ethiopia and he agreed, provided we would be the ones to write to you. No problem!

A Zambian girl writes to her sponsor.

About our family, our father teaches math at the high school. He gave us a Sudoku chart to send to you. Do you have number puzzles at your school? Our mother is a works at a hair salon – she’s great at cutting and styling hair. We also have a little brother, but he’s only interested in video games.

We’re planning to go to university in Boston in a few years, but we won’t be studying math. Right now we’re busy spending our free time listening to music, dancing and texting with our friends. We love to cook, so we might open a restaurant when we graduate. Our favorite foods are pizza, fish tacos and cupcakes. Here’s a photo of us at our birthday party, eating pizza.

We hope you’ll write to us and tell us something about your family and your school. What are your favorite subjects? What do you like to eat and how do you spend your time with friends?

Sarah & Courtney Anderson

In subsequent letters, consider enclosing flat items like embroidery thread or hair ribbons (for girls), stationery sheets, poems or stories, a map of the United States and a map of the youth’s country, photographs or postcards. Other possibilities include traditional folk tales, Sudoku charts, flash cards with English vocabulary words (if the child is not an English speaker), photographs or postcards.

We hope you enjoy a fruitful and long correspondence with your sponsored child!

A sample letter for a child age 6 to 8:

Dear Meakara,

My name is Colleen, and I live in a suburb of the city of Cleveland, in the state of Ohio, in the USA. My husband Mark and I have two young children, William and Anna. Mark works in Cleveland at the Goodyear factory, which makes tires for cars and trucks, and I am a pastry chef at a nearby restaurant. I prepare all of the sweets and desserts.

My youngest sister, Amanda, is a Peace Corps volunteer, working in public health in Siem Reap. Since she arrived in Cambodia, Amanda has been sending us photos of the area near her home – the temples of Angkor and the villages in Tonle Sap Lake. One of my favorite pictures is of two small girls sitting inside an open window at Angkor Thom, playing a game with stones.

After hearing Amanda’s stories about Cambodia, I decided to sponsor a child there. I chose you because your picture is just like one of those little girls in the window at Angkor Thom.

Meakara, I hope you will write to tell me about your life, so I included an information sheet to help you. I am very interested in the street games you play to celebrate Chaul Chhnam Thmey. Could you please tell me what you like best about Khmer New Year?

Sincerely,

Colleen

Sample letter for ages 9 to 11:

Hello, Minh,

I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Bob and I live in the city of Charlotte, in the state of North Carolina, in the USA. I am a pediatrician, with three grown sons. Andrew is a computer programmer. Nathan is a banker and he and his wife Mary have children of their own. My grandsons are named Robbie and Timmy. My youngest son, Ian, is a dental hygienist.

Postcards and pictures are great items to send to your sponsored child.

I have never visited Vietnam, but several of the doctors in the hospital where I work are Vietnamese. They share their customs and holidays with me, and they even taught me to prepare pho. I decided to sponsor a child in Vietnam because of their friendship. When I read that your parents were divorced, I chose you. I am also divorced, and I know how difficult it is for a parent to raise a child alone.

Minh, I hope you will tell me about yourself and what you enjoy most. I am also interested in how your family will celebrate Tet, the New Year, in February. I was born in the year of the snake. Which year were you born in?

I enclosed a map of the United States, so that you can find the city and state where I live, and a map of Vietnam, so that you can find your own town.

Sincerely,

Bob C.

In subsequent letters, enclose embroidery thread or hair ribbons (for girls), string games, origami paper, a poem from their culture, Sudoku charts, word puzzles, a map of the United States and a map of their country, flash cards with English vocabulary, photographs or postcards.

This is the second in a series of posts with suggestions for writing to the child you’re sponsoring through ChildFund.

If your sponsored child is younger than 3, you’re really writing to the child’s parents or guardian. Think of this as an opportunity to learn about the family’s situation as well as the child.

Four-year-old Siquera and his mother peruse a sponsor’s letter.

A child of 2 years or older is often able to draw simple pictures of his or her family or home. Photographs and postcards are good enclosures in your letters for this age group.

A sample letter:

Dear Ricardo,

My name is Miriam. I live in the city of Santa Fe, in the state of New Mexico, in the USA. I have a 19-year-old daughter named Andrea. We are both musicians. I play the piano and Andrea plays the violin.

I have done some traveling, but I have not visited Mexico. And I never had a son of my own. So I decided to sponsor a boy in Mexico, a country that is a neighbor to America but also very unfamiliar to me. I want to learn more about Mexico and what it is like to live there. I chose you, Ricardo, because you like music.

I hope you will tell me about yourself and your family, so I enclosed an All About Me sheet for you to complete. I am very interested in how you celebrate Día de los Muertos. In Santa Fe on the Day of the Dead we eat sweet bread, called pan de muerto, and calaveras, sugar skulls in English. But we do not visit our dead relatives in the cemetery. Could you please draw me a picture of your family’s Day of the Dead celebration?

Sincerely,

Miriam Marshall

Another sample letter:

Chère Aïssatou,

I am writing to introduce myself. My name is Marie and I live in the city of Oakland, in the state of California, in the USA. I am 50 years old and I have a 25-year-old daughter, named Michèle. I am a teacher and I once lived in Senegal, in Saint-Louis, along the Corniche. I taught English to the students at Lycée Faidherbe. I love Senegal so much that I prepare yassa and mafé tiga for my daughter whenever I have the chance.

Recently I made a decision to sponsor a child because I wanted to help another mother and her daughter. When I lived in Senegal, I was called Aïssatou Diallo. I chose to sponsor you because we share the same name.

Pesa, a 5-year-old from Indonesia, draws a picture.

Aïssatou, I hope you will write to me and tell me about your family. I am especially interested in how you celebrated Tabaski. My first memory of Saint-Louis is celebrating Tabaski with my new family there. Perhaps you can draw me a picture of your Tabaski.

This week is National Volunteer Week and we would like to thank ALL of ChildFund’s amazing volunteers! Whether it’s participating at our LIVE! concert events, sharing our organization’s mission through social media, speaking at a local Rotary club or attending fundraising luncheons, ChildFund volunteers are getting the word out about children who live in poverty and are in desperate need of a sponsor.

Every day ChildFund supporters make a difference in the lives of the children they sponsor. Through monthly sponsorship donations and staying in touch through cards, photos and letters, ChildFund sponsors provide support, encouragement and empowerment to a child. Some sponsors go one step further by also giving their time to find other sponsors for children who are struggling to survive.

Christine Lin and Marilyn Warner are good friends and ChildFund sponsors who go above and beyond to help children. Recently, the duo volunteered at an event in Newport Beach, Calif. This luncheon and fan mixer, billed as “The Sounds of David,” honored recording artist and American Idol Season 7 runner-up David Archuleta by raising funds for his favorite charities.

Archuleta sponsors a child and kicked off ChildFund’s LIVE! concert series in December 2011, garnering child sponsorships during his “My Kind of Christmas Tour.” He was unable to attend the event since he is currently on a mission trip in South America. However, 85 of his biggest fans were there to participate in silent and live auctions to raise money for ChildFund and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Volunteers Christine and Marilyn get ready to share their sponsorship stories at the ChildFund table.

Marilyn and Christine greeted guests who stopped by the ChildFund table, providing information about sponsorship and ChildFund’s mission. They brought letters and photos from their own sponsored children, bringing their sponsorship experience to life and sharing how much it has meant to them. The display featured child packets, photos of Archuleta during his visit to ChildFund’s programs in the Philippines, as well as an iPad with rotating images of children.

David Archuleta visited ChildFund programs in the Philippines last year.

“Christine did an awesome job handling all the paperwork and creating receipts for the sponsorships and donations,” Marilyn noted.

Christine added, “Marilyn did an excellent job making people feel welcome to our table, encouraging others about sponsorship and explaining to them what ChildFund is all about and showing her folders of her kids, so people can see the blessings from it.”

Robin Gantz signs up to sponsor a child in Zambia.

The two friends made a great team, raising several hundred dollars for ChildFund and signing up two new sponsors.

But Marilyn and Christine didn’t stop there. They divided the remaining child packets from the event and are now asking their friends and co-workers to sponsor these children.

Thank you Christine and Marilyn for giving your time to ensure a successful event! Because of your efforts, and the work of other volunteers like you, children living in poverty will have new opportunities to reach their full potential.

If you would like to volunteer with ChildFund at a LIVE! event, or in another way, please email volunteers@ChildFund.org or call our toll-free number at 800-458-0555, Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET.

Tariku, now 33, grew up in a family of nine in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. Without the support of ChildFund, he says he would not have been able to afford school materials or continue his education. Today, as a university graduate and a master’s degree student, Tariku has found success. The following is his story in his own words:

Tariku, 33, a ChildFund alumnus, is studying for a master’s degree and working in Addis Ababa.

Today I am going to tell you about myself, about how ChildFund changed my life, as it did for many children, by providing various kinds of support. ChildFund played a great role in my life and helped me become who I am now. I enrolled in the project when ChildFund opened its office at Semen Shoa, in the Amhara region, in 1992 during the downfall of the Derg political regime. At that time, I was a grade-six student, while my father was a soldier and my mom was a housewife. We were nine in the family.

I am the youngest in my family, except one younger sibling. However, no one in my family has gone far from home or been successful in education. Since I joined the project, ChildFund supported me with educational materials, health care and fulfilling our family’s needs. Before, I had no means to buy books or other educational materials. The project provided me with everything I required for my education; that, in turn, increased my interest in learning.

After I finished my diploma in agriculture at Jimma University (a top Ethiopian teaching university) in 2000, I had the chance to join ChildFund’s local partner organization staff as a community development worker. After some time there, I moved to a project in Addis Ababa.

I received my first degree in business management in 2009, and now I am a graduate student at Addis Ababa University in psychology. I am now a sponsorship relations head at work.

“Supporting one child means supporting the family.”

One thing that I want to highlight is how ChildFund’s work is fruitful. There are many successful alumni who are working in many areas in different organizations. Supporting one child means supporting the family. For instance, my family has benefited a lot. I have created work opportunities for my elder siblings by supporting them financially, and I was able to teach my younger sibling.

The support I received in the Semen Shoa project is the basis of all my success. I can say that ChildFund was just as important as my blood circulation.

I am sure that I will keep on improving my life even after this, but I will give credit to ChildFund often. Now I am successful in my work. I want to be a role model and pass this message on to other children who are receiving support from ChildFund to give credit for what ChildFund did for them. I hope that many children will attain similar success to what I have achieved now.

Country music duo Thompson Square visited Honduras last week to meet Emerson, a 4-year-old boy they recently sponsored through ChildFund International. Keifer and Shawna Thompson, who also are husband and wife, say that they are “totally changed” by the visit, which allowed them to see how children and their families survive on few resources and yet have much love and joy to give.

The pair, who promote ChildFund’s child development work through ChildFund’s LIVE! artist program, traveled to Honduras to meet Emerson and his family and also took the opportunity to shoot a video for their recent hit single, “Glass.”

After almost two hours of bumpy back-road travel through the beautiful green mountains, Keifer and Shawna reached Emerson’s house near the town of Lepaterique in the central Honduran province of Francisco Morazán.

Emerson and Christian show off their playhouse.

Shawna and Keifer, joined by a film crew and ChildFund staff members, received a warm greeting from Emerson’s family. Soon, they were playing soccer with Emerson and his brother, Christian; learning how to make corn tortillas with the mother, Ana; and singing songs for the family. The children proudly showed their visitors a little playhouse they had built in their backyard with sticks and stones.

“You honor us with your visit to our humble home,” said the great-grandfather of the family, 93-year-old Maximino. “We are poor, and your coming here means a lot to us. May God bless you in your way.”

“There’s no feeling in the world like this,” Shawna said after meeting Emerson and his family. The experience, she added, “definitely makes you realize what is important in life, and it’s pretty obvious that it’s family.”

“This has been one of the most amazing days we have ever had,” Keifer added.

Learning about ChildFund programs in Honduras.

In addition to visiting Emerson, Keifer and Shawna had the opportunity to see ChildFund programs in action while visiting the local school. There they observed children, ages 8 to 10, tutoring their peers and sharing stories and drawings. The duo’s acoustic performance of “Glass” delighted the students.

After visiting other families in the community and handing out toys and candy to children along the way, Shawna and Keifer received a Honduran farewell on the edge of a beautiful lake. Following a meal of traditional food, it was the couple’s turn to be entertained with music and dance performed by children and youth participating in ChildFund programs that focus on strengthening self-esteem, leadership skills and cultural identity.

The reigning CMA Vocal Duo of the Year is now back on tour, with a schedule that includes concerts in more than 100 U.S. cities. They will continue sharing with their fans the life-changing experience of sponsoring a child through ChildFund, inviting them to say “yes” to a child like Emerson.

Many of us are making resolutions to eat less, exercise more, call our parents on Sundays, get more organized and achieve any number of other positive goals in the new year. In this season of setting resolutions, we ask you to consider sponsoring a child in 2013; don’t let another year slip past.

Felipe

Five-year-old Felipe, who lives near the town of Diamantina, Brazil, doesn’t have access to clean water or enough food. With a $28-a-month sponsorship, you can help children like Felipe live healthier and more stable lives.

Also of note: Sponsoring a child takes less work than going to the gym five days a week. “There’s always a tendency for people to resolve to eat less or exercise more,” ChildFund’s digital marketing director Timo Selvaraj says, “or to say, ‘Next year I’m going to make a difference.’ Let’s not allow 365 days to go by. It’s a simple message.”

To sponsor a child, please visit our website. It’s a great way to start 2013.

Pete Olson is an American Formula car racer in the Asia Formula Renault Series. Olson’s Race for Children campaign is to raise awareness around the issue of child poverty while encouraging fans to become child sponsors. Olson shares his recent trip to meet sponsored child Trang.

Trang, 11, lives in Vietnam.

After a decade of sponsoring various children through ChildFund, I finally made the decision to meet my sponsored child, Trang, and it was so worth it. Beyond the pictures and the letters from half a world away, my trip to Vietnam made my sponsorship experience that much more tangible. For the first time, I saw, in person, what my sponsorship had done for the little girl I’ve been communicating with over these past years.

To put it simply, meeting Trang is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever done.

My visit made me realize, more than ever, just how privileged I’ve been in my life. I have been very lucky to have so many opportunities, many of which I’ve taken for granted. The benefits my sponsorship are helping provide to Trang are things I’ve always been accustomed to having.

Meeting Trang’s family.

For instance, I saw how ChildFund has helped build a medical center in the village to provide basic health care; they’ve built a fresh water system so the community doesn’t have to walk to a stream to collect drinking and cooking water; and they’ve installed toilet facilities in the village to provide access to basic sanitation. It was eye-opening to realize these standard amenities were previously nonexistent in this community. But I was more shocked to learn from a ChildFund representative that some children have to walk over the surrounding hills to get to and from school each day. That’s probably an hour hike over – and we complain about the Stairmaster!

We gripe so much about trivial things when so many of our basic needs are met. We only have to do a little comparison with those who lack those conveniences to realize how thankful we should all be for what we have and often take for granted.

Trang and me.

It is a shame that there are so many inequalities in the world, but I know that I can do my part, no matter how small, to help children like Trang to improve their lives. I sincerely hope that through the Racing for Children program and my own personal efforts, we can find many more sponsors for children like Trang. If more people were moved in the way that I was last month in Vietnam, I have no doubt they would contribute.

I’m already looking forward to going back to visit Trang and her community. I am so glad I made the effort. To think that I have been able to help so much with what we Americans think of as so little – it is really something.

Formula One World Champion race driver, Aytron Senna said it best, “Wealthy men can’t live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance.”

Indeed it is our duty, and yet our privilege – we should all do our part. Help a child in need by becoming a sponsor through ChildFund International.